Ryan+and+aaron

Seismic Waves

Aaron Kafkakis

Ryan Harris

Mrs. Smith

Hour: 4

April 8, 2011

Basic Background Information

What is an earthquake?An Earthquake is what happens when two blocks of Earth

suddenly slip or crack past eachother.

How are earthquakes measured?Earthquakes are measured in Seismic Waves measured by

Seismographs.

What does magnitude mean?The size of an Earthquake is called its Magnitude

How is magnitude measured?Magnitude is measured by the size of their Seismic Waves.

Damage Caused by Earthquakes

Buildings suddenly collapse

Tsunamis begin to occur

Buildings shake and shutter

Waves

What are earthquake waves called?Seismic Waves

What two types of seismic waves are there?Primary and Secondary Waves

What two types of body waves are there?Love and Rayleigh Waves

Body Waves

How do P waves travel?

They push and they pull

How do S waves travel? They travel side to side, and up and down.

Which move faster?P-waves move faster.

Elastic Rebound

A mechanism used by Geolgists to explain Earthquakes and suface ruptures.

The Elastic Rebound occurs in Divergent Boundaries

The Tohoku Earthquake

This quake occurred at :5:30 PM

This quake occurred In Honshu, Japan.

The magnitude of this quake was9.0

Effects on the environment/earth

• Nuclear Wastes from Power Plants escape into the evironment

• Many cities and Humans are heavily damaged

• Large cracks and sinkholes .

Effects on the People of Japan

• People do not have power from destroyed power plants.

• Tsunamis flood cities in Japan.

• Houses and buildings are toppled over.

Effects on the Economy of Japan

• Many offices shut down and people lost jobs.

• Food and water become scarce and polluted.

• Fires burn down buildings and kill hundreds.

GPS Sensors

• One interesting fact about this earthquake is that it moved several GPS sensors. This will require all of the GPS sensors to be rearranged.

• How does elastic rebound explain this movement?

Because the boundaries at the Elastic Rebound point shifted, moving Japan.

Tsunamis• What is a tsunami?A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake.

• How do tsunami waves appear at sea?After an earthquake hits, the waves cause the water to rise up and

move.

• How high can tsunami waves be?About 50 to 250 feet high.

• How fast can tsunami waves move? One hundred MPH in deep ocean water.

Websites Used

http://www.diigo.com/user/richardsj/earthquake

http://www.google.com/